04 March 2008
Railway extensions necessary – Puncog tells NPC
(Xinhua) Qiangba Puncog (Tib: Champa Phuntsok), chairman of Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR) said that the construction of Golmud-Lhasa railway extensions is "quite necessary". "We will fully tap the potential of railway in the region, and we hope the extensions linking Lhasa to Xigaze (Tib: Shigatse) and Nyingchi (Tib: Nyingtri) will bring more benefits to the Tibetan people" said Puncog, who made comments at the 11th National People's Congress (NPC), The People’s Republic of China's (PRC) rubber-stamping legislature, currently being held in Beijing. Work on the 254-km extension line, the first feeder for the railway, is planned to start this year and expected to be completed in 2010, according to an earlier report.